Food Safety Matters

Adam J. Kuszak, Ph. D., is a health scientist administrator in the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) and the director of the ODS Analytical Methods and Reference Materials (AMRM) Program. Through AMRM, he works with stakeholders involved in research, industry, and regulatory affairs to support scientific resource development and promote biomedical research on the mechanisms and health effects of...

Jennifer McEntire is Chief Food Safety and Regulatory Officer at the International Fresh Produce Association. Prior to the merger of United Fresh and Produce Marketing Association, Jennifer was Vice President of Food Safety and Technology at United Fresh Produce Association. A food microbiologist by background, she has always worked in the Washington, D.C., area, bringing a scientific perspective...

With 2021 in the rear-view mirror, the Food Safety Matters team, along with Bob Ferguson of Strategic Consulting, sat down to discuss the big food safety stories and impacts of 2021, and peek ahead at what's in store as we begin 2022. Topics discussed in this episode include: Regulatory Changes New Era of Smarter Food Safety PFAS COVID-19 Supply Chain Food Market Changes Food Safety Culture Sponso...

Mark Wittrock is the Director of the Food, Agriculture, and Veterinary Defense Division within the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In this role, he oversees the coordination and integration of the Department's food, agriculture, and veterinary defense efforts across DHS, the federal interagency, state, local, tribal, and territorial...

Sally Powell Price joined MilliporeSigma in 2020 as a Regulatory Expert for Food Safety Testing for North America. Previously, she served as Director of Lab Operations at a biotech startup in Boston and was a Food Lab Supervisor at the New York City Department of Health - Public Health Laboratory.  She has a bachelor's degree in Biology, a master's in Microbiology & Immunology, and did continuing...

Mitzi Baum joined the team at Stop Foodborne Illness as the Chief Executive Officer in May 2019. Prior to beginning her tenure at Stop, Mitzi cultivated a 23-year career at Feeding America beginning as a network services representative rising to the senior level position of managing director of food safety. Mitzi holds a Master of Science in Food Safety and a certificate in Food Law from Michigan...

Kerry Bridges is Vice President of Food Safety at Chipotle Mexican Grill. In this role, Kerry oversees food safety standards, quality assurance, and procedures. Kerry joined Chipotle in January of 2019 and oversees a team of individuals who are committed to enforcing Chipotle's zero-tolerance policy and industry-leading processes, focusing on supply chain, in-restaurant practices, food prep, and e...

Dr. Brittany Campbell is the Director of Technical Services for the National Pest Management Association (NPMA). NPMA is a global association supporting the pest management industry and its commitment to protecting public health, food, and property. Brittany earned her master's degree in Entomology from Virginia Tech and her Ph. D. in Entomology from the University of Florida. In this episode of F...

George Hatziemanuel is the Marketing Product Manager for Lab Weighing, covering analytical, precision, and moisture balances. Carl Joslyn is the Marketing Product Manager for Industrial products, covering bench and floor weighing products used in food and industrial applications. Carl has been with OHAUS for over 21 years developing and marketing Industrial products. Peter Will is the Marketing Pr...

Lone Jespersen is a principal at  Cultivate , an organization dedicated to helping food manufacturers globally make safe, great tasting food through cultural effectiveness. Lone has significant experience with food manufacturing, having previously spent 11 years with Maple Leaf Foods. Following the tragic event in 2008 when Maple Leaf products claimed 23 Canadian lives, Lone lead the execution of...

Bonnie McClafferty is the Director of Food Safety at GAIN, the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition , and Chief of Party for  USAID's EatSafe : Evidence and Action Towards Safety Nutritious Food. She has more than twenty years of experience working in agricultural research and development within the institutes that make up the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) und...

Nuno Soares is an author, consultant, and trainer in food safety with more than 21 years of background in the food industry as a food safety/quality and plant manager. He works exclusively to help food safety professionals achieve a more fulfilled career based on improving knowledge, improving competencies, and a growth mindset. He is also the founder of the initiative "The Why of Food Safety—I'm...

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we have an interesting discussion with Bill Potter, Food Safety Technical Advisor, at Elanco Animal Health about a very important topic for the poultry industry—pre-harvest intervention strategies for poultry production. Bill Potter is a poultry industry veteran, who has spent 28 years solving food safety problems in the poultry industry. Currently, Bill is...

Dr. Jeff Kornacki is an industrial forensic food microbiologist. He has assisted and continues to assist many companies during environmental and product contamination concerns including FDA and USDA recalls and has made well over 850 troubleshooting related plant visits across a vast assortment of food processing industries in his career.  He is an active member of IAFP. He received the IAFP Sanit...

Catharine Young was named executive director of the New York State Center of Excellence for Food and Agriculture in March 2019. A longtime champion of agricultural and economic development, Catharine served for 20 years in the New York State Legislature representing western New York. During that time, she chaired the Senate Agriculture Committee, founded the Legislative Wine and Grape Caucus, spon...

Donna F. Schaffner, M.Sc., is the associate director for food safety, quality assurance, and training at the Rutgers University Food Innovation Center. Donna has more than 20 years of experience as a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) specialist. She teaches FDA certificate programs in Preventive Controls for Human Foods (PCHF), Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP), genera...

Dr. Noel Anderson is managing partner of Mosaic Food Advisors LLC which helps start-up companies in the food and beverage arena succeed in the marketplace. Previously, Noel spent 19 years in Research & Development at PepsiCo and 18 years at General Foods/Kraft. After receiving his BS, MS, and Ph. D. degrees from the University of Massachusetts in Food Science and Nutrition Noel stayed actively eng...

Dr. John W. Spink is an assistant professor in the Department of Supply Chain Management at the Eli Broad Business College at Michigan State University (MSU). Previously, he was an assistant professor in the School of Criminal Justice in the College of Social Science at MSU and in the College of Veterinary Medicine. His leadership positions include product fraud-related activities with ISO 22000,...

In this episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak with Vidya Ananth about the increasing emphasis on digitalization of food safety processes and recording-keeping and what the implications are for the food industry. Vidya Ananth is VP of Food Safety at Novolyze, where she leads Food Safety and Quality and its digitalization, Application Support, and Customer Success. As you are about to hear, she i...

Wendy White is the Industry Manager for Food and Beverage for Georgia Tech's Georgia Manufacturing Extension Program (GaMEP). She serves as GaMEP's food safety expert to Georgia food businesses by providing educational outreach and aiding the improvement of food safety and quality systems.  Before joining academia in 2019, Wendy spent the first 17 years of her career in food manufacturing and dist...

Ryk Lues, Ph. D., holds the positions of Professor of Food Safety and Director of the Centre for Applied Food Sustainability and Biotechnology (CAFSaB) at the Central University of Technology, Free State, South Africa. His main field of specialization involves social-behavioral aspects that impact food safety and organizational food safety culture. He serves on several national regulatory and lega...

In this BONUS episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to Leonard Mongiello (business development and sales manager) from the Industrial Fumigant Company (IFC) about best practices for keeping birds out of your facilities. In this BONUS episode of Food Safety Matters, we speak to IFC about: Why birds at a food processing facility considered a problem Solutions available to control or exclude birds...

Dr. Frank Busta is the director emeritus of the Food Protection & Defense Institute (formerly the National Center for Food Protection and Defense NCFPD) and professor emeritus of food microbiology at the University of Minnesota. He was named as the first director of the Food Protection & Defense Institute in 2004. Previously, he held faculty positions at the University of Minnesota, North Carolina...

Dr. Michele Sayles has over 21 years of experience in Food Safety, Quality, and Food Microbiology. As I mentioned, Michele's current role is Executive Director of Food Safety and Quality for Diamond Pet Foods.  Prior to joining Diamond, Michele was responsible for the Global Food Safety and Microbiology Program at Hill's Pet Nutrition.  She has also held key Food Safety and Quality positions acros...

Dr. Ruth Petran is a passionate yet practical food safety scientist, and Principal of Ruth Petran Consulting, LLC. Prior to starting her own business, Ruth held technical food safety and public health leadership roles at Ecolab, Pillsbury, and General Mills.  She is skilled at tactical application of technical food safety risk management strategies, spanning the global farm to fork supply chain, a...